THE REMAINS OF THE FORTIFICATIONS
There are only a few obvious fortifications of the city of Montpellier, but the tour des Pins , the tour de Babote and the door de la Blanquière are the unique testimonies of the fortifications that protected the town from the 12th century. The tour des Pins, opposite the jardin des Plantes, reaches 23 metres high. It owes its name to the two pines which grew at its summit. It was used as a refuge for Protestants in the 16th century, then a prison during the French Revolution. It now houses the archives of the city. At the end of boulevard du Jeu-de-Paume, the tour de Babote was one of the gates to enter the city. Only the ground floor is original. An observatory was installed in the 18th century by the royal Academy of Sciences. This is where Lenormand would have flown away with an umbrella. Finally, you can admire below rue de l'Université, right next to the Ursulines convent, the porte de Blanquerie, or Vieille Porte. Built during the first decade of the 13th century, it enabled the city to communicate with the outside and the suburbs.
A little secret place of Montpellier.